Harmonic generator



June 22, 1954 R. ADLER HARMONIC GENERATOR Filed Sept. 27. 1949 ROBERT ADLER INVENTOR.

/-//S ATTORNEY Patented June 22, 1954 UNITED NT OFFICE HARMONIG GENERATOR Robert Adler, Chicago, ill, assignor to Zenith 7 Claims.

This invention relates to harmonic generators and more particularly to such generators of the electronic type useful for example, as frequency multipliers or the like.

Conventional electronic harmonic generators of the prior art comprise, for example, an electron-discharge device of the high-impedance type, such as a pentode or beam power tube, biased beyond cut-off for class C operation. A signal of a predetermined frequency is impresse on the input of such a device, and the output circuit is tuned to the desired harmonic of the input frequency. The duty cycle of the device depends on the ratio between the applied bias and the bias required for cut-elf, and the op timum ratio varies with the desired harmonic, as is well known in the art.

With such a conventional device, operating at constant bias, any amplitude modulation appearing at the input is greatly magnified in the harmonic output. For example, with an oper ating bias of five times cut-off voltage, a 29% reduction of the input voltage amplitude causes the harmonic output to vanish completely. Furthermore, even if the input signal amplitude is maintained constant, by virtue of the fact that the output circuit of such a multiplier does not receive a driving impulse from the input signal during each cycle of its own resonant frequency, the harmonic output is characterized by an uhavoidable amount of amplitude modulation at the input signal frequency. To obtain a useful harmonic output from a multi-stage frequency multiplier comprising a succession of the prior art multiplier necessary to remove at least part of this ampli" tude modulation in any stage by means of a second tuned circuit before entering the next multiplier stage; otherwise, the accentuation of the amplitude modulation by each stage becomes cumulative to the point where the ultimate output signal contains a large number of undesired modulation components of relatively large amplitude. It is particularly necessary to use double-tuned coupling circuits in frequency multipliers used in frequency modulation trans-- mitters and the like where the quality factor or Q of the interstage coupling circuits is limited by the band width requirements.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel harmonic generator, operat ng on a diiferent principle than prior art generators of the type discussed, which is substantially insensitive to amplitude variation of the input signal.

stages, therefore, it is generally It is a further object of the invention to provide an improved device for generating a signal output of a frequency corresponding to an odd harmonic of the input signal It is another object of the invention to pro vide a multi-stage harmonic generator, suitable for use as a frequency multiplier in a frequency modulation radio transmitter or the like, which utilizes single-tuned circuits for interstage coupling without being adversely affected by signal amplitude variations in those coupling circuits.

An harmonic generator constructed in accordance with the present invention comprises electron-discharge device having in the order named a cathode, an accelerating electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode. The accelerating electrode is operated at a potential positive with respect to the cathode, so that the device has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance. Means are provided for biasing the control electrode to substantially the center of the high-transconductance voltagerange. An input circuit, comprising a source of input signals of a predetermined frequency, is coupled to the control electrode and to the cathode, and an output circuit, selective to an odd harmonic of the predetermined input signal frequency, is coupled to the output electrode and to the cathode.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood, however, by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic circuit diagram of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 2 is a graphical representation useful in understanding the operation of the circuit of Figure 1.

In the circuit of Figure 1, a pair of electrondischarge devices I El and H are arranged to provide a cascade-coupled multi-stage harmonic generator. Devices 1!] and H preferably are of the gated-beam type disclosed and claimed in copending applications of Robert Adler, Serial No. 7-864, filed February 12, 1948, for Electron Dischar e Devices, now U. S. Patent 2,511,1i3, issued June 13, 1950, and Serial No. 68,285, filed December 30, 1948, for Electron Discharge Devices, now U. S. Patent 2,559,037, issued July 3, 1951, both of which are assigned to the present assignee. For example, devices In and H may be of the recently-introduced type designated 6BN6, and device Hi may comprise a cathode 52, an accelerating electrode l3, a corn trol grid l4, and an output electrode IS; in addition, the 6BN6 comprises a second accelerating electrode It, a second control grid H, and a plurality of focussing electrodes 12?. I9, 2' 3 and 2!.

An input circuit, comprising a source 22 of in put signals of a predetermined frequency fl, is coupled to control electrode 14 and to cathode l2. Cathode i2 is connected to ground through a biasing resistor 23 which is bypassed by means of a condenser 24. Control electrode M is returned to ground through a choke 25 which furnishes a low impedance direct current grid return to maintain the bias of that electrode substan tially constant and independent of the amplitude of the signal from source 22. Accelerating electrodes l3 and !6 are internally connected together and are connected to the positive terminal of a source of suitable unidirectional operating potential, here shown as a battery 26, which is suitably bypassed by means of a condenser 21; the second accelerator I6 is not essential to the operation of the invention although it is useful for reducing the interelectrode capacity between grid l4 and anode 5. The second control electrode I1, which is not utilized in the operation of the present invention, may be connected to the output electrode or anode if: as shown, or to ground. Alternatively, second control electrode li may be omitted altogether. Anode I is coupled to the positive terminal of battery 29 by means of a selective circuit comprising the parallel combination of an inductor 23 and a condenser 29. Inductor 23 and condenser 29 are tuned, for example, to a frequency is corresponding to the third harmonic of the frequency 11 of source 22.

Anode iii of device It is also coupled to the control electrode 36 of device H by means of a coupling condenser 3!, and control electrode 3G is returned to ground by means of a choke 32. The cathode 33 of device 5 i is connected to ground through the parallel combination of a biasing resister 35 and a bypass condenser 35. The accelerating electrodes 3'? and 31 of device H are connected to the positive terminal of a suitable source of unidirectional operating potential, conventionally designated 3+, which may for example be the positive terminal of battery 25. The anode 38 of device if is coupled to 13+ through the parallel combination of an inductor 3i} and a condenser 49 which is tuned, for example, to be selective to a frequency he, corresponding to the fifth harmonic of the frequency f3 to which inductor 28 and condenser 29 are tuned. Inductor 39 and condenser 55 constitute the primary of a double tuned transformer ll. The secondary of transformer 4| comprises the parallel combination of an inductor 42 and a condenser 43 which are also tuned to the frequency I of the primary. Output terminals 44 and G5 are provided at the terminals of the secondary of transformer 1H, and output terminal 55 is connected to ground.

The operation of the circuit of Figure 1 may perhaps best be understood by reference to the graphical representation of Figure 2, in which the output electrode current Ip vs. control electrode voltage Eg characteristic of device [0 is plotted as curve 50. Operating characteristic 50 comprises two voltage ranges 5| and 52 of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range 53 of high transconductance, as explained in detail in the abovementioned copending applications. The bias of control electrode I4 is adjusted, as by means of resistor 23 and condenser 24, to a value 54 at substantially the center of high-transconductance voltage-range 53. An input signal c of frequency f1 from source 22 is applied to control grid 14. If the peak-to-peak amplitude of input signal c is made materially greater than high- 'transconductance voltage-range as, as shown, the

anode current i has a substantially square waveform. Furthermore, the larger the amplitude of the input signal e the less the effect of any am plitude variations of the input signal on the waveform of the output current, as is apparent from a consideration of the transfer characteristic of Figure 2.

In practice, while suitable operation may be maintained with a source of input signals of substantially constant peak-to-peak amplitude which is only a small amount greater than the width of the high-transconductance voltage-range 53, it is preferred that the peak-tomcat: amplitude of the input signal eg be at least twice as great as high-transconductance voltage-range 523, and preferably of the order of ten times as great or more.

Since the output current is of a substantially square waveform, it may be resolved by Fourier analysis into a fundamental component and a number of sinusoidal components of frequencies equal to the odd harmonics of the input frequency f1. Since the output circuit comprising inductor 28 and condenser 29 is tuned to be selective to one of these odd harmonics, as for example the third harmonic is, the voltage e0 developed across this tuned circuit is substantially sinusoidal and has a frequency equal to the third harmonic of the input signal. The impedance of the output circuit at the fundamental frequency and at other harmonic frequencies is negligible, so that anode current components at these frequencies produce no substantial effect on the output voltage.

The voltage at developed across the tuned circuit comprising inductor 28 and condenser 29, drawn to a smaller scale than the input voltage 6g, is coupled to the control electrode 36 of device 5 l, which is connected in a similar circuit to provide further frequency multiplication. The operation of the second stage including device II is identical with that of the first stage comprising device Iii, with the exception that the output circuit including inductor 39 and condenser 40 is tuned to the fifth harmonic he of the frequency f3 which is applied to control grid 3D. Consequently, the output voltage developed between terminals 44 and 45 is of a frequency corresponding to the fifteenth harmonic of the input frequency f1.

Merely by way of illustration, and in no sense by way of limitation, satisfactory operation of the first stage of the frequency multiplier of Figure 1 may be obtained by using a 300-ohm cathode resistor 23 and a (SO-volt supply battery 26. The cathode current of device I!) (type GBNG) is then about 5 ma, so that the bias 54 applied to control grid I4 is about 1.5 volts negative. The input signal a from source 22 may have a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 20 volts at a frequency, for example, of 1.5 megacycles. Inductor 28 and condenser 29 are adjusted to have a 20,000-ohm anti-resonant impedance at a frequency of 4.5 megacycles. With these constants, a substantially sinusoidal third harmonic output signal es of about volts rms. is obtained across the circuit comprising inductor 28 and corn denser 29.

One outstanding advantage of of Figure 1 over prior art class C harmonic gen erators resides in the fact that by virtue of the step function operating characteristic, the output current waveform is substantially unaffected by variations in the input signal amplitude, so long as the peak-to-peak input signal amplitude remains materially greater than the high-transconductance voltage-range 53. Consequently, a single tuned circuit suflices to couple the cascaded stages, Whereas the prior art required further filtering in each interstage coupling network, as by means of a double-tuned transformer.

Furthermore, the output circuit is shock excited at a uniform rate of one driving impulse for each half-period of the input signal, whereas in conventional class C multiplier stages, the output circuit is only shock excited at alternate halfperiods of the input signal. Therefore, the amount of amplitude modulation appearing in the output circuit of a multiplier stage constructed in accordance with the invention is only half as great as that appearing in the output circuit of the prior art device.

Since the output current waveform is substantially square, it is apparent that the output circuit may be tuned to any desired odd harmonic of the input frequency, and the invention is not to be limited to the specific choice of odd harmonics utilized in the circuit of Figure 1. Furthermore, since the output signal of each stage is substantially insensitive to amplitude variations of the input signal, any desired number of stages may be cascaded to provide further frequency multiplication, and only a single tuned circuit need be used in each of the interstage coupling networks.

As another alternative, instead of connecting the single tuned circuit of the interstage coupling network from anode it to the positive terminal of battery 26, a resistive load impedance (not shown) may be connected in the output circuit of device it and the choke 32 in the input circuit of the following stage may be replaced by the tuned circuit comprisin inductor 28 and condenser 29. As a still further alternative/the output electrode i5 of the first stage may be cou- Died to the control electrode 35 of the second stage by means of a transformer having primary and secondary windings only one of which need be tuned.

For satisfactory operation of the invention, it is necessary that the output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic be of the step function variety having two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance. Such a characteristic may also be obtained, for exampie, by operating a conventional pentagrid converter tube with the third grid used as control electrode and the second grid used as accelerating electrode, and with a fixed bias applied to the first grid. It is, however, preferred to utilize a tube of the general type disclosed in the aforementioned copending applications and exemplified by the commercially available type SENS,

the arrangement since such a device aifords a particularly high transconductance which more nearly approaches the ideal characteristic; the term gated-beam electron-discharge device, where used in the ap pended claims, is intended to be restrictive to a. device of this type.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described, it is apparent that various changes and modifications be made, and it is therefore contemplated in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. An harmonic generator comprising: an elec-- tron-discharge device having in the order named a cathode, an acceleratin electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating said accelerating electrode at a p0tential positive with respect to said cathode, whereby said device has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance; means for biasing said control electrode to substantially the center of said hightransconductance voltage-range; an input circuit coupled to said control electrode and to said cathode and comprising a source of input signals of a predetermined frequency; and an output circuit coupled to said output electrode and to said cathode and selective to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency.

2. An harmonic generator comprising: a gatedbeam electron-discharge device having an electrode system includingin the order named a cathode, an accelerating electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating said accelerating electrode at a potential positive with respect to said cathode, whereby said device has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance; a source of bias potential for biasing said control electrode to substantially the center of said high-transconductance voltagerange; an input circuit coupled to said control electrode to said cathode and comprising a source or" input signals of a predetermined frequency; and an output circuit coupled to said output electrode and to said cathode and selective to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency.

3. An harmonic generator comprising: an electron discharge device having in the order named a cathode, an accelerating electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating said accelerating electrode at a potential positive with respect to said cathode, whereby said device has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially Zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance; means for biasing said control electrode to substantially the center of said hightransconductance voltage-range; an input circuit coupled to said control electrode and to said cathode and comprising a source of input signals of a predetermined frequency and of a peak-to-peak amplitude materially greater than said hightransductance voltage-range; and an output circuit coupled to said output electrode and to said cathode and selective to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency.

4. An harmonic generator comprising: a gated beam electron-discharge device having in the order named a cathode, a first accelerating electrode, a control electrode, a second accelerating electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating each of said accelerating electrodes at a potential positive With respect to said cathode, whereby said device has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprisin two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance; means for biasing said con"- trol electrode to substantially the center of said high-transconductance voltage-range; an input circuit, coupled to said control electrode and to said cathode, comprising a source of input of a predetermined frequency and of a peak-topeal: amplitude materially greater than said high-transconductance voltage-range and having a low direct-current impedance; and an output circuit coupled to said output electrode and to said cathode and selective to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency.

5. An harmonic generator comprising: a pair of electron-discharge devices each having in the order named a cathode, an accelerating electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating the accelerating electrode of each of said devices at a potential positive with respect to its associated cathode, where by each or" said devices has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage character istic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance; means for biasing the control electrode of each of said devices to substantially the center of its high-transconductance voltage-range; an input circuit coupled to the control electrode and to the cathode of one of said devices and comprising a source of input signals of a predetermined frequency; a network comprisin a single selective circuit tuned to a frequency substantially equal to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency for coupling the output electrode of said one device to the control electrode of the other of said devices;

and an output circuit coupled to the output elec trode and to the cathode of said other device and selective to an odd harmonic of the frequency of said single selective circuit.

6. An harmonic generator comprising: pair of electron-discharge devices each having in the order named a cathode, an acceleratin electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating the accelerating electrode or" each of said devices at a potential positive with respect to its associated cathode, whereby each of said devices has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high transconductance; means for biasing the control electrode of each of said devices to substantially the center of its high-transconductance voltagerange; an input circuit coupled to the control electrode and to the cathode of one of said devices and comprising a source of input signals of a predetermined frequency; a network comprising a single selective circuit tuned to a frequency substantially equal to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency and coupled to the output electrode and to the cathode of said one device, and means for coupling said circuit to the control electrode and to the cathode of the other of said devices; and an output circuit coupled to the output electrode and to the cathode of said other device and selective to an odd harmonic of the frequency of said single selective circuit.

'7. An harmonic generator comprising: a pair of gated-beam electron-discharge devices each having an electrode system including in the order named a cathode, an accelerating electrode, a control electrode, and an output electrode; means for operating the acceleratin electrode of each of said devices at a potential positive with respect to its associated cathode, whereby each of said devices has an output electrode current vs. control electrode voltage characteristic comprising two control electrode voltage ranges of substantially zero transconductance separated by a control electrode voltage range of high a transconductance; means for biasing the control electrode or each of said devices to substantially the center of its high-transconductance voltagerange; an input circuit coupled to the control electrode and to the cathode of one of said devices and comprising a source of input signals of a predetermined frequency and of a peak-topeak amplitude materially greater than said high-transconductance voltage-range; a network comprising a single selective circuit tuned to a frequency substantially equal to an odd harmonic of said predetermined frequency for coupling the output electrode of said one device to the control electrode of the other of said devices; and a double-tuned output circuit coupled to the output electrode and to the cathode of said other device and selective to an odd harmonic of the frequency of said single selective circuit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,962,392 Harmon June 12, 1934 2,427,204 Ferguson Sept. 9, 1947 2,428,989 Pulliam Oct. 14, 19 i! 2,455,824 Tellier et al. Dec. 7, 1948 2,482,803 Smith, Jr., et al. Sept. 2'7, 1949 2,510,129 Moore June 6, 1950 2,541,378 Nyquist Feb. 13, 1951 

